Selling platforms

[superdupertoys]

Hi

I started up a new business called superdupertoys a couple of months ago. Originally I was selling at a local market once a week, the money was pretty rubbish (About £20 profit a week on a good day), so I decided to start facebook selling.
On my first day I sold 3 RC cars for £10 each, which gave me a total profit of £15. As a result I decided to abandon the cold wet mornings of the market stall, where I sold barely anything and stick with facebook for a little while.
Business was not exactly amazing or anything, but I was still earning more than at the market.
I decided to open up a website superdupertoys.net
The problem was that as I didn't have enough money to buy stock for all of the categories. As a result I decided to postpone the launch a few months until I saved up enough.
I bought a box of 24 RC minis, which I sold most of to family but some on facebook.
I then opened a trade account with a larger wholesale a few weeks ago, I bought £300 worth of stock. upon it arriving I sold £150 worth in the first 3 days Mashallah.
And then everything just stopped, 2 weeks later and since then I have sold 2 cars.

Can anyone suggest any other place that I can sell?

 

[Alan]

e-bay, seriously, as a 'shop' buy-it-now pricing (not auction), especially with x-mas coming.

You will thank me many times for this advice.

 

[gguthrie]

Hi,

Ebay is a great platform to sell on but the only issue is your market place is already saturated on Ebay.

You were right to use Facebook which offers you the ability to target audiences, making chances of converting much higher. Without knowing what your selling strategy looked like on Facebook, I am assuming a lot when I suggest these ideas - you may already have tried them.

The trick with Facebook is having as big a community around your product as is possible. If you can start by focussing your efforts on the local market and make sure your clients also know you are local - this can provide comfort for the buyer to put their hands in their pocket and spend. Getting this part right will pay dividends later when your customers start recommending your product.

Using affiliate marketing (not in the normal affiliate sense) with local buy and sell pages is a great way to get your product under customers noses. I use a number of these to promote my services on pages such as Glasgow Buy and Sell which has over 5000 followers alone. You should also ensure regular and fresh content to engage facebook users - dull uninteresting posts won't ever work whereas clean crisp pictures and exciting content will grab viewers attention. Offer incentives too, like a freebie or the chance to win soomething for buying from you.

There are loads of way to get this right, feel free to drop me a line if you want a bit more - too much to put on one thread! A website would also be a massive step in the right direction - again we can have a chat on that if you would like.

Good luck,

Gordon

 

[Brian Holt]

You've had some good advice about selling but have you got the right business model?
The thing that kills most businesses is cash, or rather the lack of it.
I have a colleague who has a number of online businesses, including one selling model cars. The one thing all his businesses have in common is that they don't hold stock. He won't sell anything that can't be drop shipped. That way you collect the money, then the manufacturer or their agent fulfil the order - you're always ahead in cash terms.
Why would you want to buy stock and risk being left with it, or having to sell below cost?

 

[Goodman George]

I agree with Brian, definitely take some time to run your business plan past an experienced online retailer proprietor who is prepared to share their experiences with you - it will save you time, money and provide you with the steerage that could get you back on track.

I operate in different circles, but I did this back in June and I am so glad I did.

In the short term consider maximising your social media, especially if selling through FB has worked for you before. One of my clients, for example, will let you outsource it for just £99 per month at the moment which is - quite frankly - proving to be an easy sell.

Whatever you decide to do though, when you come out the other end winning, let us all know how you got there!

 

[Anastasiya]

I also agree with the posts above. You should build the right business model first and then think about distribution. I advise to use social media, probably local forums and Ebay. I've checked your website, there is still lots of work to do. You may think about developing the better one or improving this version. If and when your business goes up, you can create a mobile app to simplify and automate the process of ordering. But that's only if you see the prospects.
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